Refrigerating apparatus.



WAB. MoBURNEY, H. T. BARKSDA-LE & J. B. HOWE. REFRIGERATING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 2,1913.

L1 fi fll. $3., "Patented M11123, 1915.

sannsnann, AND sonar 1;. news, or nTtan-ra, snonsia.

BEFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

" 1.2% all whom it may concern it .known that We, WILLARD B. Mon- UR-Nnr, HORATIO T. BARKSDALE, and JOHN B. Hows, citizens of the United States, resending at Atlanta, in the county of Fulton and Stateof Georgia, have invented certain rnew and useful Improvements in Refrig- .erating Apparatus; and We do hereby decla re the following to be a full, clear, and i enact description of theinvention, such as iwi lll enable others skilled. in the art to which it appertainsto make and use the same.

@ur invention relates to refrigerating apparatus of the absorption type, and it con- -i sists in the constructions, combinations and i, arrangements herein described and claimed. An object of our invention is to provide an-improved apparatus for simplifying the operation and economizing the steam consumption in absorption refrigerating apparatus employing high pressure generators and low pressure pumps.

Aifur'ther object of our invention is to 1-av,ide an improved apparatus adaptedto' be readily applied to existing absorption :refrigerating plants. I

In existing installation of absorption re- ;trigerating plants employing high pressure generators and low pressure steam pumps, flivej steam issupplied from a boiler directly I to the coil of the generator; a boiler pressure of approximately. 100 lbs. being em- ,ployed for maintaining steam at suflicient pressure and temperature in the generator coil to drive ed the ammonia gas under a high pressure, often approximating 180 lbs. and. over. The steam is discharged from the high pressure generator coil through ,'st itablesep'arators,to the reboiler Where it at) is condensed and then distilled to produce pure Water for filling the ice cans. The zlmvipressure steampumps of such plants are also supplied directly from the high pressure boiler thus required for this type 4. 5 .off generator, in order to economize space and the costs of installation and operation. 'lhisreduced pressure supply to the pumps ,is cheated by the engineer closing the main valves ,in the steam pipes of the several 9) pumps ,toa greats: orless degree for throt- {t ling the high pressure boiler steam down to the required pump pressure ofapproxi- Epecifieation of Letters Patent.

mately 4:0 lbs. This results in an inefiicient and inconvenient operation, in which a. large amount of heat is Wasted in the steam discharge from the high pressure genera- Patented lilacs. as, rare..-

Application filed September 2, 1913. Serial No. 787,765.

tor, and in which the steam valves of the generator and several pumps have to be independently adjusted to vary the rate of operation of the refrigerating apparatus.

t In our improved apparatus, steam is sup-- plied directly from the boiler to the generator coil at high pressure for driving ofi the ammonia gas under the high pressure in the generator. and the discharge from the generator coil is conducted to the several low pressure steam pumps at a pressure of approximately 40 lbs.;' the exhaust from the several pumps being directly through a condenser which is cooled by the passage through it'of the cool, strong ammonia liquor coming from the absorber. The liquor in the absorber is maintained, at as low a temperature. as possible, in order that it will absorb a large amount of ammonia gas. This same liquor, however, is, after it has passed into the generator coil, heated to a high temperature, in order to drive ofi a large amount of ammonia gas. It is evident, therefore, that this strong liquor must be subjected to considerable preliminary heating,before the ammonia gas is given off. Now this heating may all bedone in the generator coil, or it may be dens in part by preliminarily heating the liquor on its Way to the generator coil: It is further evident that the greater the extent of this preliminary heating, outside the generator coil, the less the extentof the heating within the generator coil, and the greater the economy of steam in thegenerator coil. In addition to this demand for preheating the ammonia liquor, there is also the demand for cooling means for a condenser, or condensers for the exhaust from the ammonia pumps.

- Now this invention introduces means vvhereby the fulfilment of the one demand fulfils the other, that is, the cooling of the exhaust steam is eifected by the cool liquor, and the preheating of the cool liquor is correspondthe amount of subsequent heating, in the generator coil, of the strong liquor. This result is attained by what is simply a heat exchanger, which is at once a condenser and a heater. The steam to be condensed and cooled is 'passe through this condenserh'eater in one direction, and the liquor to be heated is passed through in the other direction, the steam and liquor, of course, traveling in separate channels, andthe flow ofheat taking place through the separating wall. while analogous to the well-known ex-- ohanger,.in which the cool liquor'from the" absorber cools the hot, Weak liquor from the generator, and at the same time is heated in so doing, differentiates therefrom in that in our arrangement this cool liquor cools the condensing means in the condenser for the exhaust of the circulating pumps, and at the same time is heated in so doing. Our arrangement isirntended to be used in conjunction with an exchanger, of the usual type, and so placed that the cool liquor from the absorber passes first through the condenser-heater and then through the exchanger.

This provides a highly advantageous construction, inwhich the steam discharged at considerable pressure, approximately 40 lbs, and over, from the coil of the'high pressure generator is used for driving the low pressure steam pumps and the final exhaust from said pumps is delivered to the reboiler, after having passed through the combined condenser and beaten. Further, very little adjustment of the steam supply valves-of the several pumps is necessary when varying the rate of operation of the refrigerating apparatus, since all adjustments of the steam supplied to the high pressure generator act automatically to correspondingly vary the quantity of actuating steam supplied to the pumps. Our invention therefore provides an eflicient and inexpensive construction adapted to be readily applied to existing absorption refrigerating plants, and which is free from the inconvenience and irregularity of action caused in present installations by the uncertain setting of the independent steam supply valves of the several low pressure pumps to accommodate th variations of service corTdi-tio ns.

The acompanying drawing, *fer1:ning a part of this application, illustrates diagrammatically one embodiment of our invention; in whic Q "1 indicates a steam boiler connected by a pipe 2 directly to the coil 3 of a high pressure generator 3; said pipe being shown provided with a manually-operated main valve 4 and a safety valve 5. Inthe usual type of high pressure generators, a boiler pressure of approximately 100 lbs. is employed for furnishing steam to the generator coil This heat exchanging means,

pressure generator 3 through a pi e 6 to a receiver 7, Where oil and water 0 condensation are separated and removed by a drain 8 provided with a valve 9. The receiver is connected to the low pressure steam pump 10 for the cooling water by a steam pipe 11 provided with a steam supply valve 12, and the steam exhaust from said pump is conducted by a pipe 13 provided with a valve 22 to a condenser and heater 14:. The cooling me-- dium for this condenser is the cool, rich ammonia liquor coming from the absorber 31. This cool liquor coming from the absorber 31-enters the pipe 14, passes thence through the coils in the condenser and heater, wherein it cools and condenses the steam, and itself" becomes heated, and passes out through the pipe 14 through an exchanger (not shown) of the usual type and thence to the generator. A pipe 15 leads from the receiver 7 for supplying steam to the low pressure ammonia pump 16 and brine pump 17; the steam supplied to said pumps being controlled by manually-operated valves 18 and 19, respectively. The steam from the low pressure pumps 16 and 17 exhausts through the pipes 23 and 24, respectively, to the common exhaust pipe 13 leading to the oondenser and heater 14; said exhaust pipes 23 and 24 being controlled by valves 25 and 26. The steam after thus passing successively throughjthe high pressure generator and low pressure pumps. is exhausted into the condenser and heater 14 and finally dis?" charged therefrom through a pipe 27 to the reboiler 28. A pipe 29, controlled by a valve 80, connects the receiver 7 and reboiler 28 to provide means for admitting steam directly from said receiver to the re.- boiler; thereby enabling the apparatus to be readily adjusted for uniform operation under service conditions in which the generator uses more steam than is required by the several pumps. A high pressure eteam line may, however, be used to su ply the several pumps, if they are of the high pressure type, in which case the receiver or "throttling valves would not be necessary. As shownflhejp'ipe 29 preferably leads from the bottom of thesreeeiver 7, so that all waterof condensation wili be forced into the reboiler by the steam pressure in said receiver when the valve 30 is open.

From the above description it will be un-' derstood that our invention provides a simle and inexpensive construction adapted to be readily applied to existing absorption retrigerating plants having high I pressure generators and low pressure steam pumps,

' for insuring economy in steam consumption and a regular operation under all service conditions. We have illustrated" and described preferred and satisfactory constructions, but changes could be made Within the spirit and scope of our invention.

We claim 1. In an absorption refrigerating appa 'ratus, the combination of an ammonia generator, a coil within said generator, a plurahty of low pressure steam circulating pumps, asource of high pressure steam connected directlyto he generator coil, and independent naive-controlled connections for supplying steam from said high pressure generator coil to said several low pressure pumps.

2. Jinan absorption refrigerating apparatus, the combination of an ammonia generator, a coil within said generator, a plurality of low pressure steam circulating:

pumps, a source of high pressure steam connected directly to the generator coil, independent valve-controlled connections for supplying steam from said high pressure generator coil to said several low pressure pumps, a reboiler, and means for conducting the exhaust steam from said several pumps to said reboiler.

3. In an absorption refrigerating appa-= ducting the exhaust steam from said severalpumps to said reboiler, and a valve-controlled by-pass from said receiver to-sald reboiler.

i. In an absorption refrigerating apparatus, the combination with an ammonia generator, of a coil W1th1n said generator, a supply of steam for said generator coll, a

. plurality of circulating pumps, independent valve-controlled connections between said generator coil and said pumps, a condenser,

means for leading the exhaust steam from said pumps into said condenser, an absorber,

circulating pumps, a receiver, means .t"

and means for leading the liquor "from the absorber through. said condenser.

5. In an absorption refrigerating apps-- ratus, the combination with an ammonia generator, of a coil Within said generator, a supply of high pressure steam for said generator coil, a plurality of low pressure leading the exhaust steam from said generator coil into said receiver, idependent valve-controlled connections to supply steam to said pumps from said receiver, con-- denser, means for leading the exhaust steam from said pumps into said condenser, an absorber, and means for leading the liquor from the absorber through said condenser.

6. In an absorption refrigerating appa ratus, the combination with an ammonia generator, of a coil Within said generator, a

. generator, of a coil Within said generator, a

supply of high pressure steam for said. generator coil, a plurality of low pressure circulating pumps, a receiver, means for leading the exhaust. steam from said generator coil into said receiver, independent valvecontrolled connections to supply steam to said pumps from said receiver, a condenser, means for leading the exhaust steam from said pumps into said condenser, an absorber, means for leading the liquor from the absorber through said condenser, a reboiler, means for leading the condensed steam from said condenser to said reboiler, and a valvecontrolled by-pass from said receiver to said reboiler.

In testimony whereof, We affix our signatures, in presence of two Witnesses.

witnnnn n. Menu'nnnr nonarro r. BARKSDALE. JOHN B. Hovvn Witnesses:

"WILBUR F. JEWET, lluoni H. CLYMER. 

